Vista Pirates To Get "Black Screen of Darkness" 873
jcatcw writes "Microsoft has just turned on Reduced Functionality mode, worldwide, and sent a letter to OEMs explaining the consequences of Vista piracy. These include a black screen after 1 hour of browsing, no start menu or task bar, and no desktop. Using fear as a motivator, the email warns resellers to 'make sure your customers always get genuine Windows Vista preinstalled.'"
2007, the year of linux. (Score:5, Interesting)
What happens when this goes wrong? What happens when Vista is running in the Bank of America and it accidentally trips the entire network in to "Black Screen of Darkness" mode? What happens when a virus triggers this?
The first job of any operating system has to be stability. Without stability you have nothing and I can't honestly see a good reason to mess with the stability of your OS when you're making billions of dollars of profit a year. People do not have short memories when you turn off their company. They will avoid you for decades because an event like that could literally cost a company its existence.
Good enough is hard to shift. I personally think Grolsh is a superior larger to Fosters yet Fosters outsells Grolsh by a wide margin in the United Kingdom. Fosters is inoffensive and does the job well, it is "good enough." Windows is the same, it is good enough for the vast majority of people even though it is technically deficient to Mac OSX and Linux.
I think Microsoft is making a lot of mistakes with Vista. First of all, they released an early beta as the final product which left a lot of basic functionality horribly broken. Second, they added features that no end user wants at the request of record labels and the like. Thirdly, they've got sucked in to yet more anti-user copy protection.
How many more mistakes can you make before it starts to hurt? Who knows, but the competition is getting good very quickly indeed. I moved from Windows in January to Ubuntu and then Kubuntu..
To my surprise it is vastly superior to Windows XP and Vista. A year ago I would have called that fanboy-ism. Many of you are probably thinking that right now but I urge you to try it; you'll quickly learn you're wrong.
There has been much talk of the year of Linux and when that would be. The problem with the year of Linux is that you can only see it in retrospect. However, the signs are present that 2007 is in fact that year. We've had Ubuntu convince users like me to give it a go, I've heard people around me talk about Ubuntu who otherwise wouldn't have the inclination to try it. We're having people like ATI take the platform seriously and just today we've had Eve on-line announce a Linux port.
Is the year of Linux really upon us?
Simon
MS Goes Old-Skool (Score:5, Interesting)
-G
As if they were serious... (Score:5, Interesting)
Besides, if all the pirated copies of Windows were to be switched to black... dang... that would be a nice day... Linux/OS X marketshare quadruples, spam is be only about 4% of internet traffic.
(Disclaimer to mods and pointdexters: no I did not RTFA, and yes I did pull those numbers out of my A.)
Hang on... (Score:2, Interesting)
the advertisement indicates nongenuine copies of Windows Vista will lose access to key features, have limited access to updates, and thus risk attack from viruses, malware and spyware.
Does this mean that whilst the USER experience stops, the virus running in the background gets to continue running?
It's about time. (Score:5, Interesting)
One of the biggest problems in dealing with software piracy is that the copy protection mechanisms often punish legitimate users disproportionally. Who wants to put down $60 for a game that makes you put in a CD-Key, keep the CD in the drive while you play, establish/maintain an active internet connection to verify your right to play each time you start the game up? Especially when pirates get the same product for free without the aggravating restrictions?
It's never seemed logical to me that people who buy software should have to bear the brunt of copy protection when pirates get a superior experience without compensating the company producting it. So it's about time that Microsoft has figured out a way to degrade the experience of software pirates instead of that of legitimate users. Not to mention of course that it'll be nice to see Windows come down in price once this takes effect.
Developers to Microsoft: Red Statement of Bank (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm very open about IT developments to my clientele. I've explained to them for almost 20 years that MOST of the hype in an industry is designed to pad the pockets of consultants such as myself. Of our client base, almost none were going to be bothered by Y2K. I think we were one of a handful of consultants who didn't bill more than a few bucks for the entire Y2K fiasco, and we also let our clients know this. We make _more_ money because we are honest about the gimmicks of the trade: we don't want to make money doing work that isn't necessary. When a client takes us off a project, and the project drops in efficiency, they know we were needed. Most consultants, when fired, are a net positive to the firing client.
Vista will never run in my office, in my home, or in the homes and offices of my clients, until the third party software developers require it. For most large companies, Vista offers zero additional efficiency, profitability, or reduced downtime. How else can you sell an upgrade unless it does at least 2 of those things better than XP?
XP runs fine. I know it is hated, but it runs fine on hundreds/thousands of desktops and laptops and servers we maintain or provide services for. Is it efficient? No, but my customers know they're paying for the lower efficiency/stability by being compatible with the software and hardware THEY need (CAD, print RIPs, accounting flagship programs, etc). Vista offers NOTHING.
Let Microsoft kill pirate Vista installs: as far as I know, the only installs I'm aware of are pirated ones. Anyone who runs Vista now that we consult with gets a FREE downgrade to a legitimate XP license. That's how firm I am on Vista: I'll pay for the labor to downgrade it.
Microsoft's non-customers: in the Black
Our customers: giving MS the Red. Bank statement, that is.
Re:This should end well (Score:2, Interesting)
Anyhow the real issue here is the externalizes. A lot of those blackscreen cost will be borne by businesses and ISPs and resellers who offer service contracts. So a lot of other people's business models are going to fail. And people who would prefer having freindly relations with their customers because they sell a reliable product are going to have to settle for adversarial business relationships with their angry customers whom they will have to ration support to. That's the real shame.
Still altruism is not a requirement for a company so MS will do what it thinks is best.
It's an interesting contrast to Apple's $100 rebate on the itards who's feelings where hurt by the price cut. Apple uses it's monopoly not so much "for good" but to enable it to manage it's customer's end-to-end experience in a very positive way. That's their business model. It's apparently less successful than MS but is viable in the people for whom time is money and hassles are aggravation. (why people on slashdot, who surely must earn at least $50/hour grouse that Apple is more expensive amaze me. 20 hours of aggravation is $1000 bucks of your time lunkheads.)
Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:This should end well (Score:5, Interesting)
Unfortunately, that is not always the case...
We just had a customer in with a Sony laptop (factory install of Vista) that wouldnt boot (complaining it wasnt a Genuine Copy of Windows - please insert Vista CD In the end, this will definitely hurt consumers - as well as pirates.
Here's MS's biggest (upcoming) issue. Their OS is installed on the majority of computers out there... even a 1% failure rate in properly detecting a Genuine copy of Windows smells to me of a MASSIVE lawsuit. I think they are taking quite a gamble...
Black Screen? Black Box! (Score:5, Interesting)
In such a case I imagine that if this "feature" does kill explorer.exe, then simply loading up a different shell like Black Box (bblean) then atleast the local features would work even if windows update is still blocked.
Of course, their methods for stopping the windows update feature is not really clear at this point either.
Re:2007, the year of linux. (Score:3, Interesting)
With Wubi [wubi-installer.org], trialling Linux is now as easy as installing a Windows application.
Wubi+Kubuntu makes switching so very, very easy!
Re:Insult to injury (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I am glad that Microsoft is doing this (Score:1, Interesting)
Of course if all that was possible, it would mean that there would be all kinds of other nasty restrictions all over the commercial software field, and it would affect file formats etc., so in the end I wouldn't really want to see that happen. But still, it's an interesting thought.
How to take down a company (Score:5, Interesting)
"Dear CEO,
I have a copy of your Windows Vista install key. If you do not transfer $1,000,000 to my swiss bank account by 5pm I will publish this key on teh internets. How expensive would it be for every copy of Vista you own to go dark for a few days while you negotiate with Microsoft?
Tick tock tick tock..."
Comment removed (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Unintended Consequences (Score:5, Interesting)
The problem here is one I've been warning people about all along. Unlike Linux or OS X, when you use XP or Vista, you do not have control over your computer. Microsoft does. All your work is at risk; all your data, workflow, applications, etc. The computer can be told at any time to stop responding to you based upon policy at Microsoft; you accept this behavior when you click OK in the installer. The current event is one example; all they have to do is have another server screwup (they've had several already) where your validation doesn't validate, and you're down. And in this case, as TFA notes, you're down *and* you're letting malware in the door. Which Microsoft will happily sell you software to combat, which is certainly something to consider more than a little cynically.
If you support software that enables the seller to shut it down after you have jumped through whatever hoops you need to to install it, you're at risk. This is true of productivity software such as editors and image processing applications, and it is even more so for an OS, where *everything* you do can be affected. I rejected Windows as a serious use platform for myself and my businesses because of the activation malware as of XP; been on OS X since I left Win98. If Apple ever decides they have the right to shut me down post-install as evidenced by behaviors that we're seeing out of Microsoft today, I'll be running Linux on the desktop before you can say boo. I already run servers on it. And Linux is getting better all the time.
The problem, as always, are the sheep who accept this kind of behavior from bad actors. They form the majority of the marketplace and the rest of us are constantly affected by policies that use the known compliance / ignorance of the majority to inflict heinous policies.
You bought it; you should NEVER be screwed with by the company you bought it from. Not on purpose, and not by misidentification. In the case of Microsoft, they built in the capability to screw with you and have demonstrated they can and will use it. If that's not a wake-up call, I don't know what is.
Piracy is a fact of selling IP. But any non-zero chance of evaluating someone as a pirate when they are legitimate is unacceptable; far better uncountable pirates get away with it than one legitimate customer, that kind person who has supported your efforts, be so accused. Further, computers aren't hobby machines any longer; sometimes our lives, our careers, our family's welfare depends upon them. Don't allow evil actors like Microsoft to take control of your resources. You owe it to yourself and everyone around you.
Re:It's about time. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Unintended Consequences (Score:2, Interesting)
I want an upgrade to Windows XP (Score:5, Interesting)
Short version: Genuine Vista crapped out on me, screwed up a huge download (twice!) and initially refused to realise it was genuine. Only after installing an Active-X control (God, I hate those) did I manage to get it working (and it only offered that solution the second-time-around).
A sufficiently bad experience that I just deleted the windows VM and installed Ubuntu on a VM instead. So, yes, MS screwed me out of the $300 or so for the 'Windows Vista that is licensed for VMs", but it's the last thing I'll ever buy from them. Anyone want to buy a (used once) GENUINE copy of Vista ?
I don't pirate software. I don't see why I should be inconvenienced (at full price) because MS can't find their backside with either hand - if you're going to deny fake vista installations, then MAKE SURE THE DAMN SOFTWARE WORKS. PERIOD. NO IFs BUTs OR OTHER EXCUSES. [rant over].
Simon, disgusted with MS's attitude.
Re:This should end well (Score:5, Interesting)
What a great new denial of service attack. Get hold of a corporate Vista key, get it blacklisted, sit back and watch the fun. Virtually untraceable.
-matthew
HMM... (Score:2, Interesting)
I wonder what would happen of worm for Vista was distrobuted with a Virus that would patch the Vista computer to make it !validate with M$'s OS checker which would make the infected computer marked pirated.
Is that even possible? I'm no expert but I think that would be possible. If I was a Vista/M$ user I would be pretty nervous about this anti-piracy move by M$. However, since I use Ubuntu I'm safe.
I hope that made senseRe:year of linux waits for network setup wizard (Score:3, Interesting)
No, because NetworkManager doesn't work properly yet. For example, NetworkManager cannot connect to any network with a hidden SSID.
Re:This should end well (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:This should end well (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:This should end well (Score:3, Interesting)
Times change, service packs smooth things, up, Microsoft realizes some of its mistakes, hardware catches up.
Now, I realize that quality-wise Vista is the worst to yet come out of Microsoft. I wouldn't touch Vista with a 20 foot pole, except as a developer (which I am).
But Vista is a mixed bag of things: it's not completely bad. It's like a perfect set of Lego blocks, amazing technologies, that are just put together poorly to form a mess of an OS, and now sabotage itself with WGA.
I believe Microsoft will get their act together in the next 3-4 years and we'll get Vista right. Maybe it'd be Vista SP2, maybe it'd be Windows 7, only time will show.
One method-sucky but it would mostly work (Score:1, Interesting)
Basically, if you are honest and have paid money for the product in one of the richer developed nations, MS makes YOU subsidize their shady otherwise dealings with the rest of the planet, and has been doing so for a long time now, and will continue to annoy you with anti piracy "features".
They really are a truly rank and dismal company. Why people just continually put up with their stuff is beyond me, I gave up on them way back in the 90s, just too much expensive buggy crap from them. Just not worth it. Like the MAFIAA and their products, just not worth it anymore.
Oh, as to pirated installs getting pwned and causing problems? It is called "maintaining an attractive nuisance" and people should be charged for that. If you can't even be bothered to learn how to drive and weave all over the road, too bad, you'll get a ticket. If you can't be assed to get a legit install and follow better security routines and etc, too bad, you should get a ticket. And people should be allowed normal warranties with software "products", if it is not suitable for purpose-such as being connected to the internet-then they should be able to sue over being sold/leased/licensed a DEFECTIVE PRODUCT.
That is the biggest snakeoil scam out there running, software with full capitalist pig profit protections and no warranties mandated by law. You would think by the 21st century now we might have eliminated "caveat emptor", but no, an industry that makes hundreds of billions a year and claims with much righteous indignation that they are "white collar professionals" still needs LEGAL PROTECTIONIST TRAINING WHEELS and is too chicken or lame to code to some acceptable standards so they could offer warranties. Every other professional industry out there has minimum warranties and some sort of acceptable use standards, but software? Nope, they claim they aren't good enough to code that well, and you know what? I believe them! The entire industry is still wearing short pants and sucking on lollipops.
And no, this isn't flamebait to anyone (just generally ranting, decided to stick it in here, not directed at anyone personally at all), this is serious, and actual warranties would help the industry! Think about it, no more having to ship crap you know is crap because some marketing weasel or PHB told you, you would get to actually develop better-more functional and more secure- code. It would help eliminate those (individuals and companies) who really shouldn't be in the code writing business as well, keeping wages up. And the code that you use from other guys would be better as well! What's not to like, make more money, have better code, less crap from the investor boss class, better job security, and the internet becomes more secure? There's nothing wrong with any of that is there?
If anyone wants better code, push for mandated software warranties and software lemon laws, same as with any other product. Those that can "hack it", will, those that can't go back to doing something else. Works with the rest of business, and it can work with software too if you stop fighting it.
Help Me! (Score:2, Interesting)
I need to be productive and need to run this stuff on whatever OS I switch to. Eventually it might be Apple/OSX, but for now I can not afford a new box.
- Standard Fare, Browser, email, etc. (got that covered with Linux or OSX)
- Quicken 2008.
- Excel
- Visual Studio 2005 (Mostly
Is this even possible? Can tools like VS or the express editions be run under Linux using something like Wine?
Please let me know if this stuff is even possible. I so want to switch.
Re:One method-sucky but it would mostly work (Score:3, Interesting)
The retail version is not tied to the motherboard. It means that you can remove the software from your computer and install it on another one as many times as you like.
The consumer is not aware of the differences between OEM and RETAIL copies of the OS (and other software). This puts them at a disadvantage. One thing a systems integrator can do to keep customers is to sell them the retail versions that way they don't piss the customer off by telling them they need to re-purchase that same software (where the bits do exactly absolutely exactly the same thing as the one they currently have).
The OEM license is to Microsoft's benefit. The RETAIL copy is to the consumer's benefit. In the long run Microsoft makes more money off the OEM copy. In the long run the systems integrator makes more money off the RETAIL copy. The difference in price is about $20.00 (at least that was the average difference between retail and oem copies of XP).
So, it is worth $20.00 more to ensure that you don't have to pay Microsoft hundreds more in the future when that motherboard goes out. Many boards go out because of cheap capictors being used in the manufacturer of the board. And, capacitors can go at any time.
Microsoft has also gotten very aggressive in enforcing the OEM license. The consumer that purchases the copy from a royal OEM (Dell, Sony, Gateway, HP, etc) have no choice. They are essentially borked. If they had purchased from a quality systems integrator that builds custom units then they'd be much happier down the road due to more upgrade options, no vendor lock in with proprietary components and designs (such as the BTX motherboards), etc.
Just be fair to your customers and get them the real RETAIL copies and build them computers with quality motherboards so they don't feel punched in the stomach when they find out that they have to pay all this extra money to get their unit back up and running.
Re:Insult to injury (Score:1, Interesting)
Bread and Circuses indeed.
My, my. How true those words ring, even after 19 centuries. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
I don't get it... (Score:3, Interesting)
I thought they did that when they released Vista. I've used MS software for 25 years, and developed software for it for almost 20. I always had a mixed attitude towards MS. They did some things well, and many things poorly, but Windows NT/2000/XP were pretty decent overall, and I enjoyed (and still enjoy) using them. I replaced two laptops this year, which of course meant I got that total turd of a product, Vista. Having experienced Vista, I have fully swung over to hating Microsoft. I promised my wife that the cheapest laptop I could buy would blow her 6-year-old lappy out of the water (plus there were other reasons it needed to be replaced). However, despite the fact that the new machine had a 40% faster processor and 3x as much memory (1.5GB because I bought extra memory), it was substantially slower than the creaky old Toshiba running XP. Putting Vista on this low-end Gateway was criminal, and the fact that Microsoft would let a company saddle their hardware with this bloat, and the fact that Gateway would cripple an otherwise decent little machine is insane. It would be like selling a car with half the cylinders broken, dirty plugs, and broken springs sticking out of the seats.
Microsoft needs to die. They are now completely useless, and now completely evil). Until I experienced Vista I would have never said that, but with this release, they have reduced functionality, performance, and managed to spend 5 years building an OS that nobody could ever want with new features that no one would ever choose (except for maybe the shiny UI, which isn't as stomach-churningly ugly as the XP Playskool theme, but it's not great). I tried installing XP on the poor little Gateway, but it couldn't even find a driver for the network adapter (I was as surprised as I was disappointed, plus it couldn't ID the wireless adapter, the video card and a number of other devices). Rather than struggle for hours trying to identify the network adapter, copy drivers from another machine via a USB stick, I installed Kubuntu and had the little lady up and running in about an hour... and I can't tell the difference between her bottom-of-the-line Gateway and my middle-of-the-line HP (also running Linux) when it comes to browsing and e-mailing, which is most of what she does. To me, this is the year of Linux, and Vista is a total abortion that will hopefully prove to be another nail in the coffin of a company that clearly has nothing to offer other than to feed its fat, bloated and decaying corpse with everything it can wring out of its monopolistic actions from the last 20 years. Microsoft is not irrelevant yet, but we have seen, years ago, the last of anything positive they have to offer to the world of operating systems.
The Same Old Song and Dance (Score:4, Interesting)
2002 - Microsoft releases Service Pack 1 for Windows XP and announces that it will lock out pirates
2004 - Microsoft releases Service Pack 2 for Windows XP and announces that it will lock out pirates
2005 - Microsoft introduces Windows Genuine Advantage and announces that it will lock out pirates
2006 - Microsoft announces increased tightening of WGA to lock out pirates
2007 - Vista. Lather, Rinse, Repeat
The funniest and most ironic part is that Vista is a huge steaming pile of crap. After nearly 9 months of struggling with Vista (that runs like molasses on a fast dual core machine with lots of ram) I gave up and went back to XP.
Microsoft will be doing people a favor by shutting them down.
Re:This should end well (Score:3, Interesting)
I'd pay for that.
Re:This should end well (Score:4, Interesting)
Hmmm... nowhere did I say they wont help you... though there are reports of some issues getting that help for these problems.
The situation's resolution ranges (been there, done them all) to one of the below scenarios... in order of how many times I have encountered them (most frequent up top):
Yes, most of the time MS will help you. But honestly, if this were any other product, would you settle for one of the above hassles? Let's say you had a car and your OnStar system erroneously locked it because IT or GM decided it was stolen... and you had to jump through hoops to prove it wasnt before you were able to do much more than take your stuff out of it, or play the radio...
I'm not assuming they wont help me... I'm pointing out that their method still has flaws in it, and could potentially lead to a lot of angry, fully genuine (ie: HP, Sony, Dell, Compaq, etc) customers, who may end up suing them.
Someone else pointed out "Well, gee, the machine works still... you can still copy your documents off it to another machine... you just cant run virtually any app, or surf the web..." - which baffles me... I think he must be losing his mind if he calls that "working"... a computer isn't a 40lb USB drive. And, even if his position made any sense, not everyone has a spare machine.